The Tiger and The Scorpion
by CherieBlosm
Summary: She was a noble ninja, residing in the village of Suna. He was a rogue ninja, part of the notorious criminal organisation: Akatsuki. She liked art, he liked art. Both names, well known. Both living up to their reputation. But when their worlds collide? Sasori/OC
1. Seeing True Beauty

**Disclaimer** - I do not own Naruto.

**Chapter one - Seeing true beauty**

The silence was strong. Barely a single noise could be heard within the quiet, deserted street. I knew this street well. Everyday, I would walk along this street. I wasn't the only one. Everyone walked along this street. And they walked along it, everyday. Just like me. Of course they did, this was the main street in all of Sunagakure.

People, tourists generally, would always comment on how alive and beautiful this one particular street looked during the day.

Everyone said it. But everyone was wrong.

It was unfortunate, really, that not one person could actually see the true beauty of this street. For during the day, this street _had_ no true beauty. It was constantly cramped and crowded with busy citizens and tourists, all rumbling and rushing about to complete their daily activities. Swarms of people appeared from around every corner, every bend. And not one skerrick of this street could be clearly visible. You could hardly stand still to even admire the beauty of the street for more than a second without being pulled away by the crowd.

During the day this street wasn't beautiful, it was merely corrupted.

The noise was overwhelming, so overwhelming, infact, that people had to shout to hear one another. Which, in turn, really only made the noise worse. Not to mention how disgustingly sticky and hot it was, that much body heat gathered in one place should actually just be illegal.

Now, you're probably thinking: this person, whoever they may be, is just about the biggest hypocritical tosser I'm probably ever going to meet. And in saying that, you're probably right. I am being hypocritical, as I walk along this street at the same time everyone else does during the day.

On top of that, I practically yell my bloody lungs out, in the attempt to make voice audible to whoever I happen to be with at the time. But, just between you and me, there's a difference between myself and every other loud, obnoxious person that walks along that street during the day. That difference being that not only doing I walk along this street during the day.

I walk along this street during the night.

Every night, actually, at exactly midnight. Why? Because at this time, and only this time, can one really _appreciate_ the true beauty of this street. However, not only is this the one time where you can really appreciate the true beauty, no, no, don't be stupid.

This is the only time you can visibly _see_ the true beauty. And that's what made it so special.

I slowly looked around, taking in my surroundings. I looked at how the light imminent from the moon hit the street perfectly, casting indefectible shadows and highlights. I looked at how the stars, so conveniently visible in Suna, brightly radiated their light individually onto the street. I could feel the soft, inviting wind entwining itself throughout my hair, playfully manipulating it to move gently around my face, successfully causing my nose to tickle. The temperature was warm, but not humid.

This moment was flawless.

I slowly, as if not wanting to break the absolute silence, brought my hands up to rest just in front of my left eye, each hand forming an 'L' shape. I touched the pads of my thumb and pointer finger together on each hand, successfully creating a square. I turned my face slightly and squinted so that my right eye closed and my left stayed open. I pulled my middle finger down and made a clicking noise with my tongue, imitating the act of taking a picture, my hands acting as my camera.

I wanted to capture this moment forever, but only in my memory.

At that very moment, a silhouette of a figure emerged from around the corner at the other end of the street.

I thought I was the only one who walked along this street at night.

Apparently, I was wrong.

**Authors note:** Hello. This is going to be a SasoriXOC story. I realise this chapter is extremely short, but It's only supposed to be used as a prologue. The actual story itself will begin with the next chapter. Also, the next chapter will be longer. With the meeting of Sasori and everything :). And yes, I am going to add the description, and obviously, the name of the OC in the next chapter. Just to clear things up, the title of the story is actually relevant. You'll find out why soon. And the story is written in the OC's point of view. Also, the story is set in Naruto Shippuden, so after the time skip.

I'm not exactly sure how I feel about the prologue, though. It being practically just about a street. I was actually going to start it off a different way and have Sasori come in later. But I ended up going with this approach instead. Let me know what you think and, of course, if you see any mistakes or problems please don't hesitate to let me know. Opinions are always appreciated.  
Kindest regards,  
Cherie.


	2. Now Actually Seeing It For Real

**Disclaimer** – I do not own Naruto.

_Thoughts  
_"Speech"

**Chapter two – Now actually seeing it. For real.**

_-I pulled my middle finger down and made a clicking noise with my tongue, imitating the act of taking a picture, my hands acting as my camera. I wanted to capture this moment forever, but only in my memory. At that very moment, a silhouette of a figure emerged from around the corner at the other end of the street. I thought I was the only one who walked along this street at night. Apparently, I was wrong.-_

Opening both of my eyes, I squinted through my pretend camera, trying to get a decent look at the newcomer. Luckily, the light emitting from both the moon and stars was enough for me to make out a general appearance, like the fact that he was obviously a guy. He was quite tall, but then again, that coming from me didn't exactly mean all that much. I was rather short for my age and pretty much everyone on the entire planet was taller than me by at least a head...or five. He had unruly, red hair that framed his face and, if I leaned forward and squinted a little more, I could see him looking down at me through wide, heavy-lidded, brown eyes. His pale, almost porcelain like skin, seemed to light up under the moonlight. He looked about my age, maybe a few years older, 3 at the most, and he adorned a plain, black cloak.

Everything about him screamed mystery, and when I noticed his eyes suddenly light up in amusement at my pretend camera, my brows knitted together to form a slight frown. What was he doing on the main street of Suna so late at night anyway? I mentally slapped myself when I realised that he could, and probably was, thinking exactly the same thing. My frown didn't faze him in the least, infact, it seemed to amuse him even more.

My theory was proven when a ghost of a smile-or was it a smirk? He was too far away to tell- made its way to his angelic features. Wait, no. Did I just compare this random, potentially dangerous, complete and total stranger to an angel? Now I really am losing my mind.

I snorted out loud and visibly rose an eyebrow at myself for even being so utterly idiotic.

Thinking this probably didn't help with my image or situation at all, as I've probably weirded this poor person out enough for one night, I slowly unconnected my hands, bringing them out of their pretend camera and having them rest at my side instead. I then straightened my hunched body up to its full height. Yes, that was better, I probably looked a whole lot more sane and normal this way.

Without warning, said stranger took a measured step forward. My instincts finally decided to kick in at that moment and I took an uneven stumble back. A faint, but evident squeak unintentionally made its way from my now parted lips. He seemed to give a slight chuckle at my actions - I probably would have laughed at myself too, if not for my current situation - and began taking long, intentional steps in my direction. His cloak swayed in conjunction with the rhythm of his slow, but firm steps as he glided his way along the street towards me, making little to no sound. Was he going to attack?

_Why do I automatically assume he is going to attack?_ I deadpanned.

He probably had a perfectly plausible explanation for being in the middle of Suna at midnight. Maybe he was simply out for a midnight stroll. But not likely. I never saw anyone out and about this late, everyone knew better. In this day and age, with nation battling against nation, and various criminal organisations being so thrivingly active, everyone was safely confined to their homes by atleast nine o'clock.

I took a few hurried steps backwards, successfully keeping a decent, measured distance between us. Suddenly, his amused, knowing smirk seemed to draw into a slight frown as he abruptly stopped his movement altogether. At this, I gave my own little smirk. Until, that is, I realised that he wasn't actually frowning at me at all. Infact, his frown seemed to be directed to something, or at someone, _behind _me.

I froze instantly as I heard a low, confident chuckle erupt from behind me. And this person, unlike the mysterious stranger infront of me, was a whole lot closer to me than I deemed comfortable. I panicked as I heard leisurely, balanced footsteps from behind me and visibly shivered when a cold, hard hand closed itself directly around my shoulder. My uncertain eyes darted from the pale hand, to the red-headed stranger, still obviously irritated with the interruption. I weighed my options, trying to decide whether it would be wiser to focus on the hand of the person behind me or the frowning stranger in front of me. I could feel the hot, unwelcoming breathe of the one behind me linger along the back of my neck, causing the hairs on my arms to stand on end. I moved my worried gaze to the hand still located on my shoulder, noticing that it started to emit a cool, blue glow. And I immediately recognised the medical-pressure point disenabling jutsu.

"Oh hell no." I groaned, as a slight burst of pain flared in my left shoulder blade. Without giving much thought, I pulled my leg forward and swung it back forcibly, successfully kicking the attacker in the stomach.

I heard a loud "oof!" as twisted my body around, positioning myself in the best battle stance I could muster.

The attacker, now sprawled a few feet away gave a sharp hiss and started to lift himself from the ground. I took this short amount of time to quickly take in his appearance. He was tall, taller than the redhead. Speaking of which, I took a small glance behind me to check if he had moved. He hadn't. I gave him a warning look and noticed the edge of his mouth curling up slightly. I turned back to my attacker. He had circular, black glasses that framed his cold, black eyes and silver hair that was secured at the nape of his neck in a short ponytail.

Forgetting the redhead momentarily, I poured all my focus into completely and wholly smashing my fist into the right side of four eyes' face as payback for almost decapitating my left arm with his jutsu. His glasses cracked down the front and he skidded a few metres in the opposite direction. To my surprise, he rolled to his feet almost instantly, pulling out a kunai in the process, and lunging himself toward me.

_Oh brilliant, _I thought, realising I hadn't bothered to bring any weapons or scrolls along with me, as encounters like this don't generally happen on my nightly street walk. Using any large jutsu that would be able to cause any significant damage was also out of the question, as I would not only cause harm to my opponent, but also to the street and buildings around me. I licked my lips and spread my feet apart, bracing myself for the attack.

Suddenly, I felt a flood of wind surge around me.

"Move." An annoyed, yet surprisingly calm voice instructed. Only when I saw a flick of red hair from the corner of my eye did I realise that the redhead from earlier was directly behind me.

I was pushed lightly to the side, stumbling over a nearby barrel and into the side of a ramen bar, causing the advertising curtains to detach themselves from the top of the bar and fall around me. I propped myself up on one hand, watching as the two strangers had a glaring match. The silver haired one stopped mid-lunge, ceasing his attack with the kunai to instead take a few quickened steps backwards, creating a distance between the two.

The redhead smirked.

"Kabuto," he drawled, "How interesting, what business would you have residing within Sunagakure, I wonder?"

His voice was soft and the words rolled off his tongue. Like velvet.

Four eyes, now known as Kabuto, gave a smirk of his own, drawing the kunai closer to his face and taking another step back. He was obviously trying to cover up the fact that he held a considerable amount of fear for the redhead.

"Sasori," he greeted, "I'm glad to see you're doing well."

Sasori scowled, "You didn't answer my question, don't keep me waiting. Business for Orochimaru, I presume?"

My eyes widened, but only slightly. Orochimaru, now that's a name I knew. I've never directly come into contact with Orochimaru myself, but I've heard numerous stories of experiments and plotted attacks from the leaf, passed down to the people in the sand. He's been an enemy of Suna since the killing of the Third Hokage at chunnin exams two years ago.

"Hmm, you're just as impatient as I remember. Although, I could ask you the same question. It's admirable that you would even consider taking foot in the Sand, being such a well-known enemy here yourself." Kabuto paused in thought, "however, perhaps not as admirable as it is stupid." He added, a glint lighting up his eye.

At this I frowned, _a known enemy?_

Kabuto's indirect insult didn't seem to bother Sasori, whose smirk simply grew.

"You would know of that, Kabuto, I suppose." He responded, chuckling darkly as Kabuto's smirk was wiped from his face.

Kabuto sneered, thrusting himself forward in an attempt to lodge the kunai in Sasori's chest. Sasori evaded the kunai easily, flipping his body slightly back and curling his foot upwards, causing Kabuto to stumble forward. He pulled his hands up, effectively blocking his fall and swung his foot around to meet the side of Sasori's head.

As the two engaged in a heavy battle, I used this as my opportunity to hightail it out of there. Pulling myself painfully to my feet, which slid on the red silk from the curtains underneath me, I ran as fast as my legs could muster down the street, not daring to look back at the fight, and _defiantly_ not daring to look around at the scenery, as per usual. I rounded the corner at the end of the street sharply, evading a box of crates, instead catching my foot on a raised rock and falling flat on my stomach.

"Ack!" I grunted as I pulled my hands out in front of me to cushion my fall.

I scrambled up just as quickly as I fell, using my now bleeding hands to haul myself off the ground once more, continuing my sprint to the Kazekage tower. If this Sasori was a well known enemy of the sand – not that I had any clue who he was-then someone had to be notified. And if Orochimaru was anywhere near the city, then someone, if not the Kazekage himself, had_ defiantly _needed to be notified.

I moved quickly, dancing around various small food shops and other obstacles that blocked my path. I leapt over a small, stone wall and landed with a thud, placing my hand on the ground to balance myself. I took off immediately, not wasting anytime and swerved around another sharp bend, clutching the wall and using it to position me.

My eyes widened in horror as they met familiar, brown ones.

"And where exactly do you think you're going?" an amused voice inquired, though it wasn't exactly directed as a question.

I gave a surprised yelp and toppled backwards. I closed my eyes and waited for my back to hit the sandy ground underneath me. But it never came. Opening both eyes and blinking slowly to ensure I hadn't hit my head and was imagining things, I looked around. I had stopped in mid air. My eyes moved to Sasori who was standing with his arms at his side and his fingers stretched to strange angles. He looked at me impatiently, as if expecting me to say...thankyou?

"Uh.." I said intelligently.

He gave an unimpressed grunt and I watched as his pinky finger from his left hand and the middle finger on his right hand twitch slightly. I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could register what was happening, I was thrust sideways, my body slamming against the wall I had just previously cornered. My body was dragged along the wall, seemingly on its own accord, and came to an abrupt halt directly infront of Sasori, who had now turned to face me. His pointer finger lifted upwards slightly, and in time with the movement of his finger, my body was hauled upwards until I came eye to eye with Sasori.

He moved in closer, not that he really had to move a great distance. I tried moving my body, attempting to shrink backwards to move as far away from Sasori as possible. My eyes widened when I realised it made not effect and I had stayed in exactly the same position. I hadn't moved an inch, my body was bound to the wall by something.

I started to panic, on the inside I was thrashing around, trying to get my body moving. But on the outside, not even my little finger twitched.

We were so close now that if he leaned any further, our noses would touch.

"What were you doing?" Sasori asked bluntly.

My face twisted in confusion.

"What?" I blurted.

Sasori gave an impatient sigh and rested his left hand next to my head, leaning to one side.

"Out here, in the middle of the night. What were you doing?" he stated more clearly, obviously annoyed with the fact that he had to repeat himself.

"...I come out here every night." I answered, deciding to keep it as simple as possible.

Sasori seemed to be shocked by my answer, his eyes widening a fraction, only to narrow again not long after.

"Why?"

"Well..." I stopped myself short, trying to think of an answer. Why do I come out here everynight? Did I have a proper reason? No. Not really.

"Just to look." I finished.

"Just to look." Sasori mused, more to himself than to me.

I was expecting him to raise an eyebrow, or maybe to laugh. It wasn't usually a normal occurrence, for someone to come out everynight in the middle of the night to simply look at the things around them. But instead of doing either of those things, he merely tilted his head at me.

I nodded, unsure of what else to say.

He leaned in a little more, the side of his face brushing slightly against my cheek. I screwed my eyes shut quickly when I felt his hot breath tickle my ear and his body press firmly against mine. An involuntary shiver shot up my spine. I hoped to god he didn't notice – he did-and pressed his right hand on the wall, next to my face.

I was trapped.

He leaned down whispering quiet but menacing words.

"And did you ever think, my dear, that you would end up in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

I shivered for about the 500th time tonight when his lips brushed up against the bottom of my ear. I parted my lips, opening my mouth to say something, but realising I had nothing to say, I quickly slammed it shut again. If I was going to die, I certainly wasn't going to humour my killer by answering his questions.

He pulled back a little to look at my face when I didn't answer, but before I could narrow my eyes to glare at him, an explosion erupted.

My vision was clouded as a thick layer of smoke swirled around me. Noticing the hold on my body had somehow lifted, as there was no sign of Sasori, I moved my limbs slowly to try and get back into sync.

Only once I was 100% sure, and only then, that my body could move adequately enough on its own, I crouched down into a stealthy position and lifted my hand up to cover my mouth and nose from the array of smoke.

Closing my eyes briefly, I summoned my chakra. My chakra was special, when it was focused to certain parts and senses in my body; they were enhanced to an almost super-human level. I snapped my eyes open, everything was suddenly clear and in focus, despite the large amount of smoke and debris gathered around me. Not only that, but my hearing, smell, eyesight and reflexes were at least 10 times sharper than they were previously.

My eyes darted around quickly, capturing everything in sight, not missing a single grain of sand. Sasori was definitely gone. To where and for how long? I didn't know. But, I certainly wasn't about to go looking for him.

Allocating a small amount of chakra to my feet, I leapt highly off the ground and above the smoke. I immediately noticed the previously asleep village before, was now wide awake. Lights were flicking on one by one, and citizens rushed into the streets. Figures, that explosion was obviously not going to go unnoticed.

The people of Suna may be incompetent, but they certainly weren't deaf. Or blind. Or stupid.

A large woman suddenly came bursting from the door of a building, screaming loudly.

"Mercy on us! Have mercy on us all!"

On second thoughts, scrap that last one. They were stupid. They were _very _stupid.

I flipped myself backwards in the air, successfully landing on the rail of a high tower.

"Tora!" a male voice bellowed from bellow.

A middle-aged man stood below me, clad in a familiar looking jonin uniform. I had seen him around before, although I had never actually had a proper conversation or meeting with him, even though we were classed as the same rank.

"What's going on, do you know anything? Squads are being sent out now to find the source of the explosion and the alarm has been sounded, people should be being evacuated shortly," he yelled over the noise for a second time. There really wasn't any need to be yelling, I had my senses tuned on and his loud, hysterical voice was only hurting my ears. It's not like he wasn't able to tell, either. My ability is quite well known and when I focus my senses, my already yellow eyes glow an even brighter gold colour, and the pupils shift into a diamond, catlike shape, rather than a circle.

I took off from my position on the railing, spinning in the air and landing on the balls of my feet directly in front of him, "Orochimaru is involved, I can tell you that much. Two others I was unable to recognize were here before, too," I explained calmly.

"Orochimaru! Here, in the village?" Now he looked frightened. Not that he wasn't already.

"If not in the village, somewhere close," I responded.

"What about the others? Do you know anything about them?" He questioned again.

"Kabuto was the first one, silver hair, glasses..." I stopped short, judging by the look on his face, he already knew exactly who I was talking about. "And the other one, he had red hair, brown eyes? His name was Sasori. Apparently he's a-"

"Well known enemy of the sand village, yes" A smooth, velvet-like voice cut me off.

I frowned, tilting my head towards the sky. There, looking down at me through amused, brown eyes, yet again, was the exact person I had just been talking about. And even though my heart stopped with fear, it also stopped with awe. If I thought a mere street was the definition of beauty before, the vision of him, a man with seemingly angelic-like qualities standing against the star-written sky, had just completely changed my mind.

**Authors Note:** Wow, sorry for not updating in agesssssss. I've just been very busy lately. But I should be able to update a little more often, now. Hopefully this chapter made a little more sense and was slightly longer than the first. As always, let me know what you think and be sure to give me tips on how to improve :).  
Kindest regards,  
Cherie.


	3. Jinxed

**Disclaimer** – I do not own Naruto.

**Chapter three – Jinxed**

_- "What about the others? Do you know anything about them?" He questioned again._

_"Kabuto was the first one, silver hair, glasses..." I stopped short, judging by the look on his face, he already knew exactly who I was talking about. "And the other one, he had red hair, brown eyes? His name was Sasori. Apparently he's a-"_

_"Well known enemy of the sand village, yes" A smooth, velvet-like voice cut me off._

_I frowned, tilting my head towards the sky. There, looking down at me through amused, brown eyes, yet again, was the exact person I had just been talking about. And even though my heart stopped with fear, it also stopped with awe. If I thought a mere street was the definition of beauty before, the vision of him, a man with seemingly angelic-like qualities standing against the star-written sky, had just completely changed my mind.- _

Oh, that's just fantastic. I had only just managed to get away from Sasori, and now I'm stuck staring up at him like some sort of idiot, obsessed, fan-girl.

I blinked twice, shaking my head slightly, as if to release myself from my own self-imposed trance. I glanced back at the jonin, successfully keeping my senses in tune. If Sasori made a single move, I would be the first to know.

Well, I'm at least proud to admit I was doing a lot better than the jonin, whose name still escapes me.

Eyes as wide as bowling balls, knees shaking, hands shaking, hell, it was as if his entire body was made out of jelly.

He backed away slowly, bringing his hands up in front of his face, as if to protect him from an attack that had yet to happen.

"Y-y-you, you're supposed to be dead..." he stuttered over his words.

Dead? I assumed he was talking about Sasori, as I obviously wasn't supposed to be dead. Even so, what he exactly meant by that statement, I did not know.

Sensing a slight movement from behind, I whipped my head around to face Sasori, spreading my feet widely along the ground and shuffling expeditiously backwards.

Sasori lowered his head, tilting it to one side, "Hmmmm," he mused, resting his chin against his palm.

"What?" I snapped back at him, unimpressed with his overconfident attitude. I wasn't going to be playing into anymore of his games today.

I was in battle-mode, unlike earlier, I wasn't about to let him bind me again. If he had even done so in the first place, I still wasn't completely sure.

"You seem different as opposed to before," he stated obviously, as if not affected by my frenzy, "if not just by the obvious change of colour and shape in your eyes, your reflexes appear to have improved."

This time, it was my turn to smirk. I readied myself for battle, keeping my body at a standstill, bracing myself for his first move.

The guy behind me obviously wasn't going to be of any help in the state he was in, either. By that, I mean the state of shaking ones head in disbelief whilst letting out the occasional whimper. Yes, I definitely wasn't going to benefit from his assistance, even if I had wanted it.

Furthermore, judging by the way in which Sasori had fought earlier; I had to keep myself in complete focus if I was going to come out of this alive.

To my surprise, Sasori let out a small chuckle.

"Eager, aren't you? It's quite a shame I can't acquire the time to prolong my stay here. Until next time, Tora,"

With that, Sasori disappeared in an instant, vanishing down the street, around the corner and out of sight.

I didn't wasn't any time mulling over the small detail of how he knew my name in the first place, before taking off after him.

We sped through the streets of Suna, evoking a large billow of dust to evolve from behind us. I wasn't about to lose him. If it's a chase he wanted, it was a chase he was going to get.

I directed chakra into my legs, keeping a sufficient amount in my senses, in case of a surprise attack. At the same time, without my enhanced sense, I wouldn't have been able to spot Sasori at all. I could barely see him as it was, he was nothing more than a blur, moving quickly along my line of vision, darting in and out of site.

Beads of sweat trickled along my neck and down my back as I bolted along after him, pelting my way past crowds of citizens who barely noticed our existence as we flew past.

He's fast, I'll give him that much.

That wasn't to say, I wasn't faster.

I sped up, increasing my chakra along with my speed. We were nearing the entrance, or in this case, exit of the village. If I didn't catch up soon, I would definitely lose him.

I bounded against a wall of a nearby building, propelling myself in the air and twisting my body around so that I came face to face with Sasori. I successfully landed in front of him, keeping my body low and my eyes set upon my target.

I grinned as his eyes widened slightly, that definitely caught him off guard.

I lifted my left arm, pointing it in the direction of the inky, night sky. I measured our distance, ensuring I moved backwards at the same pace Sasori moved forward, keeping in front.

I gathered my nature chakra, harnessing it from the sky. I was lucky enough to have two different chakra nature types, lightning and fire.

I lowered my arm, pointing my finger from the sky toward Sasori, directing the collected nature chakra in his direction. A deafening crack sounded as a clap of lighting bolted from my finger in a flash of blinding, white light.

The lightning ricocheted along the street and hit Sasori square in the chest, sending him spiralling backwards and crashing through numerous buildings and out the other side.

He rolled a good few times, I was proud to admit, along the ground before finally skidding to a stop a couple of hundred metres away from me.

I stood completely still for a moment, trying to figure out if Sasori was still in enough of a condition to stand. My enhanced senses caught up on the fact that he was still breathing and conscious, despite the distance.

I was, to say, a little shocked as he lifted his head slowly.

He pressed his palms against the ground, using his knees to pull himself up. A single line of blood spilt over his bottom lip, staining the ground.

I exhaled slowly, if Sasori had the strength to get up that easily after being hit with an attack containing such force, what else was he capable of?

His head lolled up, his eyes rolling around to look at me. He seemed to stare for a while, as if weighing his options: to stay and fight? Or to leave, as planned?

An unexpected gush of wind erupting from above, pulling me from my thoughts. I looked up to see a large, white bird flying overhead, lowering itself so that it was hovering just above Sasori. A second cloaked figure stood upon the bird. I squinted my eyes, sharpening the chakra. Beneath the hood of the cloak I could make out a mass of long, blonde hair and a sapphire-coloured eye.

Smirking, Sasori lifted himself off the ground, running up the large tail of the bird; he flipped himself next to the blonde-headed figure. The wings of the bird fluttered, sending a wave of wind upon the village.

I didn't waste any time, taking off down the street and towards that bird, which was now taking off itself.

By the time I made it to the other side, the bird was well and truly out of reach and beginning to make its way out of the village. I barrelled after it, changing my position from flat ground to rooftops.

I leapt along, from rooftop to rooftop, until eventually heading out of the entrance gates and into the sandy desert beyond the village.

I pursued the bird until I noticed that the village was only just in sight, even with my enhanced senses. That's odd, I don't remember running for that long.

It would probably be a wise decision to put a stop to my chase, as the enemy outnumbered me 2 to 1.

At the same time, the village would still be under strife, obviously making an attempt at gathering together what had happened with the sudden explosions. I would no doubt be expected to fill in a report, being a witness to the attack, not to mention having to explain myself to the Kazekage after toppling over a few buildings earlier.

I directed my gaze back towards the bird. I could see Sasori looking down at me, watching me, with an emotionless expression drawn upon his face. The blonde-headed figure was facing the other way, seemingly focused on controlling the bird.

I considered my options, deciding it would be in my best interest to return to the village, give my report, and just go from there.

Sending one last lingering glare Sasori's way, I took off in the opposite direction.

Even though I knew the trip back to the village wasn't short, I believed that I would be able to make it back within at least half an hour, easy. However, I slowly felt my body falling to exhaustion, which was odd, as I had gone days without sleep on various missions before.

I fought to keep my eyes open and my weak knees resulted in me stumbling numerous times before tripping over myself altogether mid-run, skidding along the sand and finally, to a halt in a heap in the dust.

I calculated the time I had been running, and realised I was at least still 15 minutes out from the village. That's strange, I haven't been critically injured, only a few minor scratches and bruises here and there. At the same time, the techniques used in battle shouldn't have even used up half my chakra.

So, why was I feeling so weak?

I crawled on my hands and knees, attempting to push myself off the crowd. However, I only got so far before collapsing once again in the sand.

My breathing became heavy and I found myself gasping for air. This certainly wasn't normal, something was definitely up.

I tried, again, to use my hands to push myself against the ground, but to no avail.

I was thankful that my enemy was well and truly out of sight; otherwise this could have been a potentially bad situation. Not that it wasn't already.

I coughed roughly, my mouth felt dry, my joints and muscles ached and my eyes became increasingly heavy.

I felt my eyes droop, my head lolling to the side and my vision soon blacked out.

x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X

At first I could hear voices: familiar voices, unfamiliar voices, loud voices, soft voices. The list went on.

"-Yes, that's correct Kazekage sir, she definitely mentioned Orochimaru and Kabuto-"

Thank god. If the Kazekage was present, that ensured I was at least in a safe location. My best guess would be Suna Hospital.

"-And then Sasori, yes definitely him, the one belonging to Akatsuki. I have no doubt, sir-"

Akatsuki? That would explain the fear everybody held once they had spotted him. Although, why wasn't I aware? No wonder people considered him to be a well known enemy of the Sand.

"-Affirmative, Tora-san and Sasori already appeared to know each other. Or, at least, had already encountered before and yes, he was definitely human, unlike last time-"

At that, quite a few murmurs sounded around the room.

The conversation moved on to the possible reasons resulting behind the attack. I decided that, for now at least, it was better that I stayed in my current position. I was able to listen in on their conversation easier this way without being bombarded with various questions.

I listened quietly for a while, piecing unknown facts together in my head. Sasori, I had recently found up, grew up in Suna. It had also come to my attention that he was part of the infamous criminal organisation, Akatsuki, which I was already quite familiar with due to various missions.

I was shocked, to put it lightly, to hear that Sasori was believed to be dead, which would explain the jonin's statement from earlier. He had apparently been killed by Sakura Haruno, of the Hidden Leaf Village a few months ago.

"-When do you think Tora will be conscious? We have a few questions that are quite important for her-"

I knew they would be needing information sooner or later. Feeling the throbbing sensation in my head, I decided I would prefer the questioning to come later, rather than sooner.

"-I apologise for the inconvenience, sir. However, Tora's body has been through quite a bit. It is more likely still recovering from the poison-"

My eyes snapped open and I jolted up in my bed.

"Poison?"

Nice one, Tora, way to blow your cover. I groaned, my body felt stiff and sore and the sudden surge of energy did wonders for my already pounding headache.

I turned my head to the side, clutching the side railing of the bed and hauled my stomach out. I wiped the residue remaining on my mouth with the back of my hand, placing my head between my knees.

"Tora, you're finally awake," the nurse stated, holding me steady as a clutched my head between my knees with the sudden wave of nausea.

"How long have I been out?" I questioned, afraid to hear the answer.

The nurse smiled, "Only for the night, it's roughly noon the day after you were found collapsed outside the village."

I breathed a sigh of relief, rubbing at my stinging eyes, in an attempt to help them focus.

"How are you feeling? The Kazekage and his siblings are present, I believe they are hoping to ask you a few questions about yesterday," The nurse asked, handing me a glass of water.

"Sore," I responded bluntly, looking over at my guests.

"Gaa-" I stopped myself short.

I had known Gaara well for a few years now, enough so that we were both on an equal first-name-basis. However, I decided it would probably be more appropriate if I addressed him properly in front of others.

"Kazekage-sama," I corrected. "How is the village holding up after the attack?"

Gaara gave me a look, absentmindedly glancing out the window, "It's getting there, repairs and plans are being put into place at present. I believe we have you to thank for a fair amount of the damage."

Gaara watched me from the corner of my eye as I looked at my hands, fumbling with the cotton, white sheets.

"I apologise," I began, "I only did what was required to stop the enemy at the current time, and didn't stop to consider the aftermath of my actions. I am prepared to take any form of consequence," I said sincerely, locking eyes with Gaara.

Gaara shook his head, his eyes softening, "That will not be necessary. However, we have been informed that you appeared to have already had some form of contact with Sasori?"

I nodded, filling Gaara in on all the events I could remember up until now. He nodded in understanding, getting his siblings, which I knew almost as well as him to take various notes.

After a few more questions, the three seemed satisfied with the information and took their leave.

"You're more than welcome to rest now, if you're still feeling unwell. You should be fine to be released sometime tonight, If not sooner," the nurse smiled warmly, also moving to leave.

"Excuse me, I'd like to know about the poison," I said, remembering her earlier comment that resulted in me blowing my cover in the first place.

She look shocked, momentarily gathering her thoughts, "Of course, I apologise for not informing you earlier, but the Kazekage was rather insistent on gathering information."

I nodded my head, patiently waiting for her to continue.

"A group of patrol ninjas spotted you just 10 minutes out from the village, lying in the sand. They brought you back immediately and your breathing seemed to be running dangerously low. You were also sweating profusely and had an abnormally high temperature" The nurse explained, "We immediately ran some tests and found a large trace of poison spreading through your body. Fortunately, the patrol team found you in the nick of time and were we able to treat the poison immediately."

I'm sure, if you were to bear witness to my face at that exact moment, you would have seen a look of utter irritation and confusion. The nurse didn't seem to look past it, either,

"Oh! Don't worry about a thing; we've completely retracted the poison, so you're completely fine now. The ill feeling is only an aftermath sort of symptom, which should clear up within the hour," she reassured.

"Good to know," I deadpanned, "And does anybody happen to know exactly_ how_ the poison found its way into my body, in the first place?"

"Nobody can be 100 percent sure, exactly. However, I did happen to hear talk of your opponent, Sasori, being exceedingly skilled with poisons. Apparently all his weapons and puppets are equipped with poison fillings," the nurse answered.

Realisation began to hit me.

I was shocked, at the time, when Sasori didn't just finish me off quickly in the desert. I was weakened from running, not to mention I was outnumbered with no backup.

And to Akatsuki, if somebody witnesses or hears too much, the easiest thing to do is to simply kill that person off. So naturally, I was surprised when he didn't bother.

It didn't occur to me that he had already somehow injected me with poison earlier, perhaps when we first met in the quiet street, and it was only a simple matter of time before the poison killed me off alone.

Let me tell you, the next time I see that cheating, dirty, redheaded angel, I am going to pulverise him.

"If that's all you were needing to know, I'll leave you to it. If you need anything else, just give us a yell. The bathroom's just to the right and I'll be back in a couple of hours to dismiss you and to give you a few extra doses of that medicine, to ensure the poison is well and truly out of your system," The nurse interrupted my mental abuse directed towards Sasori.

I gave a short smile, thanking her as she quietly left the room.

Recounting the events that had happened today, I leant back in my bed, giving a sigh. I had a bad feeling I wasn't going to get the image of Sasori out of my head anytime soon.

I wonder exactly where my team mates could have been whilst all of this was taking place? I hadn't seen them at all during the attack.

Including me, there were 3 members on my team, Kin, Shiki and myself.

Kin, I had known all my life. She was 19 years of age, the same age as me. We had gone through the academy together and had completed all our training and exams together.

She was average height, with a slight build and a pale complexion. She had long, wavy, flame-coloured hair that stopped roughly at her mid-back, and bright, sea-foam eyes.

As for her personality and ninja techniques? They reflected her hair colour perfectly. She had fire-type chakra and a fiery temper, to accommodate.

Shiki, on the other hand, was calm, rational and quiet. I hadn't known Shiki for as long as I had known Kin. I found him on one of my mission's years back, when I was still a genin. He couldn't remember anything from his past, so as per procedure, I escorted him back to the village.

Again, he was our age and quite slim. He was the relatively tall with unusually pale skin, even more so than myself and Kin. His hair was a pale-silver colour and his eyes were an ice-blue.

His chakra was a water-ice-type, which wasn't surprising, given the colour of his eyes. At the same time, he was one of the best illusionists in all of the Sand.

Opening my eyes, I swung my feet over the bed, slowly lowering myself onto the ground. I shivered as my bare feet came into contact with the cold tiles.

Shuffling towards the bathroom, I pulled my arms close. Whoever was in charge of this stupid hospital had some serious issues when it came to air-conditioning.

After that load of information, I felt the need to shower. Stripping off my hospital robes, I turned the hot water on full and waited for it to heat up.

I looked at myself in the mirror. As I've noted previously, I was really quite short for my age, with a small frame, pale skin and yellow-gold eyes. My hair, which was long, straight and black, reached just above my waist. My side swept bangs covered half my forehead, running down the right hand side of my face.

I had no distinguishing marks, aside from a burn that stretched from my right fingertips to my elbow, swirling around and up my arm.

I still remember the day I had received it. It was 11 years ago; Orochimaru had attacked the village, killing everybody in his path. They believe he was looking for something, although were never sure exactly what that was.

Unfortunately for me, my entire family and clan just so happened to be directly in the middle of his line of destruction.

I was huddled up in a corner behind a cabinet when he entered the room, hot tears welling from my eyes. My dad was nowhere to be seen, as he fought with the other ninja out front.

My mum, stood in front of me protectively.

As Orochimaru performed the correct hand signs for a fire-type jutsu, I leapt from my position behind the cabinet. My mother screamed my name and Orochimaru released his jutsu.

A burst of flames flared from his fingertips, around the room and in my very direction.

I quickly raised my hands, and with outstretched arms I stood in front of my mother, blocking her from the attack.

Being only the mere age of 8, I had no idea what I was doing. I had no experience with any sort of ninja training and didn't expect to survive. However, as the fire made contact with my right hand, I unintentionally let out my own stream of fire, which connected with Orochimaru's jutsu, sending it back in his direction.

Here's to say, he easily dodged it.

Unfortunately, I didn't get off so easy. I collapsed face down on the ground, wailing and screaming and I clutched my bleeding, burnt arm.

"Seems we have a special one here," I remember him hissing excitedly. He moved past me, stepping over my writhing body, walking closer to my mother and continued his rampage, leaving me in a helpless heap on the floor.

Noticing the mirror fog up from the steam that was emitting from the shower, I stepped under the now warm, refreshing water.

I closed my eyes, letting the water run through my hair and trickle down my back, effectively washing away all my previous concerns from earlier.

I smiled to myself, things would soon go back to normal and the Sand Village would be able to recover from this attack quickly. We've done it before, we can do it again.

I wouldn't have just jinxed myself, right?

**Authors note** – I'm hoping this quick update will atone for not updating for so long after my first chapter! It's about 2:30 in the morning, and I am dying from sleep deprivation. So please, as always, let me know of any errors or any improvements I could possibly make.

Just as a side note, in this particular story, Sasori is actually a **human**. As he has already been killed by Sakura and was brought back to life as a human. Anyway, thank you very much for reading.  
Kindest regards,  
Cherie.


End file.
